1. Field Pertinent of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector for a speaker which is mounted to a portable equipment of such as cellular phone (or portable phone), PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and the like and also relates to an assembly, in combination, of a speaker and a connector.
2. Related Background Art
A connector of a known speaker is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open (KOKAI) Publication No. 9381/1997, No. 102116/2001 or No. 119775/2001.
That is, the Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 9381/1997 (Reference 1) discloses a speaker in which a projection is formed to a terminal of the speaker, and a connector is secured to a front end of a conductive wire connected to a substrate disposed at an external portion of the speaker so as to connect the connector to the projection of the terminal of the speaker.
Further, the Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 102116/2001 (Reference 2) discloses a speaker in which a contact base is disposed between a substrate and a speaker, and a conductive leaf (plate) spring is attached to the contact base in a manner such that both end portions of the leaf spring are contacted respectively to the substrate and the speaker.
Furthermore, the Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 119775/2001 (Reference 3) discloses a speaker in which one end of a conductive wire in form of coil spring is connected to a substrate and another one end of the coil spring wire is pushed against a terminal of the speaker.
The speakers of the conventional structures mentioned above, however, provide following defects or inconveniences.
That is, for the speaker of the Reference 1, the connector is secured to the front end of the conductive wire connected to the external substrate, the assembling thereof requires much time, hence being troublesome and increasing manufacturing cost. For the speaker of the Reference 2, it is obliged to prepare a contact base having a large and complicated shape for mounting the leaf spring, so that much space will be required and the manufacturing cost is hence increased. Furthermore, in the speaker of the Reference 3, since the substrate and the conductive wire in form of coil spring is integrated, in a case where a distance between the speaker and the substrate differs according to the types of the speakers, it is required to prepare substrates provided with coil spring-shaped wires every time when the different types of speakers are used, thus being troublesome and inconvenient.
An object of the present invention is therefore to substantially eliminate defects or inconveniences encountered in the prior art mentioned above and to provide a connector for a speaker capable of being easily assembled with low cost.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an assembly, in combination, of a speaker and the connector of the above character.
The above and other objects can be achieved according to the present invention by providing, in one aspect, a connector for a speaker having a frame member comprising:
a box-shaped member including a block piece and an engaging member through which the box-shaped member is secured to the frame member of the speaker; and
a conductive wire in form of a coil spring supported by the box-shaped member, the conductive wire having one end contacting a terminal provided for the frame member of the speaker when the box-shaped member is secured to the frame member of the speaker and another one end projecting outside the box-shaped member, when secured to the frame member, so as to contact a substrate of the speaker.
According to this structure, by fixing the box-shaped member to the frame of the speaker by means of engaging member, one end of the coil spring conductive wire contacts a terminal of the speaker frame member, so that the coil spring-shaped conductive wire can be easily connected to the speaker. In addition, since the other end of the conductive wire projects outward of the box-shaped member, when the speaker approaches a speaker side substrate, the conductive wire is elastically deformed and the other end thereof contacts this substrate. Accordingly, even in the case where the distance between the speaker and the substrate differs in kinds or types of personal digital assistant such as PDA or speaker to be used, such case can be dealt with only by exchanging the box-shaped member with another member having different length of the coil spring conductive wire without preparing a new substrate.
In preferred embodiments of this aspect, the engaging member of the box-shaped member comprises a pair of engagement pieces projecting outward from the box-shaped member and the speaker has a plate member projecting from the frame member thereof, the engagement pieces being engaged with both side edge portions of the projected plate member.
The coil spring-shaped conductive wire has one end secured to the box-shaped member. The conductive wire preferably comprises a coil portion, a linear portion extending from one end of the coil portion along the block piece of the box-shaped member, a bent portion bent at the distal end of the linear portion, and a contact portion formed at another end of the coil portion. The block piece of the box-shaped member may be formed with a groove to which the linear portion of the conductive wire is fitted and a hole into which the bent portion of the conductive wire is fitted.
The box-shaped member may be formed with a pair of through holes into which a pair of the conductive wires are fitted, respectively.
The box-shaped member is integrally formed of synthetic resin.
According to the above preferred embodiments, since the paired engagement pieces are engaged with both side edge portions of the projection piece projecting from the frame member of the speaker, the conductive wire can be connected through one-touch operation to the speaker by pushing the box-shaped member against the plate member, thus improving and simplifying the wiring working.
Furthermore, since one end of the conductive wire can be firmly secured to the box-shaped member, the wiring working can be further simplified and made easy.
According to the embodiment in which the paired conductive wires are accommodated in the through holes formed to the box-shaped member, the coil spring-shaped conductive wires can be smoothly elastically deformed to thereby properly contact the terminal of the speaker and the substrate.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided an assembly comprising, in combination, a speaker and a connector for the speaker,
the speaker including a frame member and a projection piece, in form of plate, projecting outward from the frame member, and
the connector including a box-shaped member provided with a block piece and an engaging member through which the box-shaped member is secured to the frame member of the speaker, and a conductive is wire in form of a coil spring supported by the box-shaped member, the conductive wire having one end contacting a terminal provided for the frame member of the speaker and another one end projecting outward of the box-shaped member so as to contact a substrate of the speaker.
The nature and further characteristic features of the present invention may be made further clear from the following descriptions made with reference to the accompanying drawings.